Following the draw, the preliminary round groups for the 2005 IIHF World Championship are as
follows:

Group A (Vienna)

Group B (Innsbruck)

Group C (Innsbruck)

Group D (Vienna)

1. Slovakia

2. Russia

3. Austria

4. Belarus

1. Canada

2. USA

3. Latvia

4. Slovenia

1

. Sweden

2. Finland

3. Ukraine

4. Denmark

1. Czech Republic

2. Germany

3. Switzerland

4. Kazakhstan

The draw began with the host nation, Austria, seeding two teams of their choice, with one going to one of
the two Vienna groups (A or D) and the other being seeded into one of the two Innsbruck groups (B or C).
Austria selected to seed Slovakia in Vienna, because of its proximity to the Slovakian border, while
defending champion, Canada was placed in Innsbruck.

The selected groups will provide several key geographical match-ups in the preliminary round. Group C
features three Scandinavian squads (Sweden, Finland, Denmark), while Group B has both North American teams
(Canada, USA). Host Austria will have some difficult games early on in Vienna as Russia and Slovakia are both
in its Group A, while in the D Group, Germany-Switzerland figures to be a key game.

The names of the 16 participating teams were placed in four bowls according to their position in the IIHF
World Ranking following the 2004 IIHF World Championship. Prior to the draw, the teams were put into the
following categories according to the ranking:

The draw continued with the teams of Bowl 4 being drawn into the four playing groups. The same procedure
was applied for the Groups 3,2 and 1 until all 16 teams were slotted in the four groups, A, B, C and D.